The present invention relates to pitching machines for providing baseball batting practice and more specifically to an improved pitching machine and method in which the elevation of a pitched ball is consistently accurate.
Coin operated pitching machines for providing baseball batting practice are widely used at playgrounds and batting centers. Some pitching machines have a ball throwing assembly with a catapult-like pitching arm that is propelled by means of energy stored in a spring. A baseball is supplied to the radially outward end of the pitching arm and, upon release of the spring, thrown toward a home plate where it may be addressed by a batter. Typically, the batter may select both the location and the speed of the pitched ball or may select a random distribution of locations and speed. In order for such machines to operate effectively, the pitched ball must cross the plate at the selected location and speed with reasonably consistent accuracy. Further, the machine should operate safely in that the ball should not be thrown wildly either at the batter or so that it may ricochet and hit the batter.
Heretofore, pitching machines have not been able to maintain the requisite accuracy over long periods of time. For example, the repeated release and arrest of the pitching arm may cause the machine to vibrate and displace the settings for the location of the pitched ball to the point where the ball is pitched wildly. The machine is thereafter ineffective until the settings are re-established manually. See for example the pitching machines with catapult-like pitching arms in U.S. Pat. No. 3,659,576 to Eade, et al. and Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-8855.
It is desirable that the pitching machine include a mannequin or other human-like form so that the batter faces a more realistic looking pitcher. To this end, the ball throwing assembly may be hidden behind a mannequin and one of the mannequin's arms may be replaced with the pitching arm of the ball throwing assembly. Movement of the ball throwing assembly and the mannequin may be coordinated to effect a realistic pitching movement. For example, the head may nod, a leg may kick and the non-throwing arm may move.
The platform on which the mannequin and ball throwing assembly are mounted may be moved to adjust the location of the pitched ball. Typically, the platform is inclined to adjust the elevation of the pitched ball crossing home plate. However, when the mannequin and the ball throwing assembly are so mounted the accuracy of the pitched ball may degrade with time. Specifically, the controls for inclining the platform may become misaligned so that the elevation of the pitched ball is no longer consistently accurate. Further, the platform may continue to vibrate after a pitch is thrown so that the location of the next pitch is not accurate. See, for example, the pitching machines having a mannequin and ball throwing assembly mounted on a moveable platform in Japanese Design Application No. 61-129,615 and Japanese Utility Application Disclosure No. 63-38,560.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel pitching machine and method that obviates the problems of the prior art.
It is a further object to the present invention to provide a novel pitching machine and method in which the elevation of the ball pitched by the machine is consistently accurate.
It is yet a further object to the present invention to provide a novel pitching machine and method in which the means for inclining the platform on which the ball throwing assembly is mounted is updated when the platform has a predetermined inclination so that the elevation of a ball pitched by the machine may be consistently accurate.
It is still a further object to the present invention to provide a novel pitching machine and method in which the platform on which the machine is mounted is stabilized between pitches so that a ball may be pitched accurately.
These and many other objects and advantages will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains from a perusal of the claims, the appended drawings and the following detailed description of preferred embodiments.